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Thursday, December 25, 2014

Rescued scientists bring back a terrifying warning from the Antarctic

The icebound crew of the Akademik Shokalskiy made headlines but, a year on, the fruits of their expedition are revealed
The voyage was meant to retrace the steps of Douglas Mawson, the
great polar explorer and scientist who led the Australasian Antarctic
Expedition of 1911. What happened instead captured the world’s
attention, something none of the scientists, journalists and paying
public aboard could have foreseen.
The Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck in ice on Christmas Day 2013 only
two weeks after leaving New Zealand. A rescue mission swung into
operation. Chinese, French and Australian icebreakers hurried to the
scene only to be defeated by the ice floes themselves.

News editors around the world must have thanked their chosen gods.
Into the seasonal dead zone, a real story had dropped. Stranded far from
home, those aboard the Shokalskiy faced danger amidst the spectacular
ice.
That New Year’s Eve an interview with expedition leader Chris Turney
was beamed live to Times Square in New York. Two days later, the rescue
effort entered a new phase. With no icebreaker able to smash way
through, a Chinese helicopter, Xue Ying, or “Snow Eagle”, rose into the
air for the first of five flights to ferry passengers from the stricken
ship to the Aurora Australis. A core crew remained behind to sail vessel
home once conditions allowed.
Media interest in the expedition faded after the rescue, but in the
year since Turney and his team have been busy. Scientific samples and
measurements from the voyage are being turned into research papers that
reveal striking changes at the southern ice cap. And rather than feeling
discouraged about expeditions that are funded by paying passengers,
Turney is more enthusiastic than ever.
“Once we got back home and made sure everyone was all right, we got
on with working up the data and getting a whole load of papers ready for
submission,” Turney said. Like the rescue mission, this involved plenty
of waiting. “It took nearly six months to get all the samples through
quarantine.”
Simple observations told unhappy stories. Trawls of water reeled in
hauls of plastic rubbish, now seemingly ubiquitous in the world’s
oceans. On land, counts of Adélie penguins revealed the population had
slumped near Mawson’s huts in Commonwealth Bay in East Antarctica. The
birds are now commuting 40 miles to get food for their young. “Another
10 years there probably won’t be many left,” said Turney. The numbers of
skuas seemed to have fallen too.
READ MORE:http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/rescued-scientists-bring-back-a-terrifying-warning-from-the-antarctic/